Question

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!

Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,5
And burst the cannon's roar; --
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,10
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee; --
The harpies of the shore shall pluck15
The eagle of the sea!

Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;20
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale.


1)
Which line from the poem best helps the reader to understand the meaning of "ensign"?
A) "Her deck, once red with heroes' blood"
B) "The meteor of the ocean air"
C) "That banner in the sky"
D) "The eagle of the sea!"
2)
Based on this stanza from the poem, what is another word for an "ensign"?

"Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;"
A) cannon
B) flag
C) ship
D) soldier
3)
What does the image of ‘every threadbare sail’ suggest?
A) A storm has destroyed the sails.
B) The ship has endured much at sea.
C) The ship has been stripped of all her glory.
D) The navy can no longer afford to repair her sails.

Answer 1

Answer: 1, C

2, B

3, A

Explanation: let me know if you want an explanation or not! I can gladly give more info : ^ )

Answer 2

1) Which line from the poem best helps the reader to understand the meaning of "ensign"? C) "That banner in the sky"

2) Based on this stanza from the poem, what is another word for an "ensign"? B) flag

3) What does the image of ‘every threadbare sail’ suggest? B) The ship has endured much at sea.

Step-by-step explanation:

From the context clues present in the poem, we can easily understand that an ensign is a flag or a banner. As a matter of fact, an ensign can be defined as a flag or a standard, especially a naval or military one, that indicates nationality. Therefore, the best answers for numbers 1 and 2 are C and B, respectively.

As for number 3, I believe letter B to be a better option than letter A. Of course a storm could have caused the sails to tear. But from the rest of the poem we can see that this ship has gone through a lot. It has been used in battles, it has defeated enemies, it has sailed across the ocean like a "meteor". We can assume that this ship can no longer do those things after many years being in use. The threadbare sail suggests that the ship has endured much and has now reached the end of its "life".